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New York Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Terry Louise Fisher, a Creator of ‘L.A. Law,' Dies at 79
Terry Louise Fisher, who channeled her experience as a Los Angeles prosecutor into an Emmy Award-winning television career as a writer and producer for 'Cagney & Lacey,' the groundbreaking female-oriented police procedural, and a creator, with Steven Bochco, of the sleek drama 'L.A. Law,' died on June 10 in Laguna Hills, Calif. She was 79. Her death was confirmed in a social media post by Mark Zev Hochberg, a family member. He did not cite a cause. Ms. Fisher was best known for her work on shows about cops and lawyers, and she certainly knew the terrain. Before turning her attention to the small screen, she worked as a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles for two and a half years. She quickly grew disillusioned with a revolving-door criminal justice system that seemed to her to boil down to a jousting match between opposing lawyers, with little regard for guilt or innocence. In a 1986 interview with The San Francisco Examiner, she recalled being handed an almost certain victory in an otherwise weak case involving a knife killing because of an oversight by the defense: 'I felt really challenged, and my adrenaline was pumping. I realized I could win this case. And I slept on it. I went, 'My God, has winning become more important than justice?'' Her unflinching view of the system informed her tenure in television. In 1983, she began writing for 'Cagney & Lacey,' bringing depth and realism to a CBS series that shook up the traditional knuckles-and-nightsticks cop-show genre by focusing on two female New York City police detectives, Christine Cagney (Sharon Gless) and Mary Beth Lacey (Tyne Daly). Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Malay Mail
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Malay Mail
Farewell to ‘Hot Lips': ‘M*A*S*H' actress Loretta Swit dies at 87
NEW YORK, May 31 — Loretta Swit, the US actress who brought Major Margaret 'Hot Lips' Houlihan to life in the seminal Korean War comedy series M*A*S*H has died. She was 87. Swit who played the high-strung but flirty Houlihan for the entire TV run of the smash series, was nominated for 10 Emmy awards for her work, winning two of them. Her death, at her home in Manhattan, was announced by her publicist, who said she was believed to have died of natural causes. M*A*S*H, which sprang from an Oscar-winning 1970 film, aired initially in 1972 and was a hit until it finished in 1983. The comedy was set in a field hospital for the US Army during the Korean War, and starred Alan Alda as Benjamin 'Hawkeye' Pierce. The series tackled a range of issues from the tragic to the light-hearted, and was sometimes seen as a satire on US involvement in Vietnam — a war that was still happening when it first began airing. 'Few actresses captured the imagination of generations of television viewers with the certainty and charm of Loretta Swit,' a statement from publicist Harlan Boll said. 'As the quick-witted, impassioned Major Margaret Houlihan... Ms. Swit became an American icon.' Alongside an extensive stage repertoire, Swit appeared in over 25 movies, including playing Christine Cagney in the TV movie that became the long-running cop show Cagney and Lacey. Obligations to the makers of M*A*S*H meant she could not continue into the TV series' lengthy run, and the role was ultimately filled instead by Sharon Gless. Other movies during Swit's career included Race With the Devil, a 1975 horror starring Peter Fonda, and 1972's Stand Up and Be Counted with Jacqueline Bisset. — AFP
